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Practice Listening: Highlight Correct Summary ID: #46417 Medium GMO
Instructions ›
You will hear a recording. Click on the paragraph that best relates to the recording.
So we knew that mad cow disease was in cattle but we didn't know whether or not mad cow disease had also infected sheep. And the government of the time was very nervous about us even mentioning that. But I took the view, it's better to treat people as adults and say, "Look, there could be this risk." And we thought a lot about how we'd express this idea of there might be a risk but we don't know, and then what we did there was to say, "There could be a risk, we simply don't know at the moment. We're not advising you to stop eating lamb, but if you want to that's up to you, but we are on the case and we're doing research to find out the answer and we will get back to you very soon." That in a way he was trying to treat the population as an adult group who would understand risk and uncertainty. That in itself was a risky approach but I think it worked. The best answer is, "We simply don't know but we're onto the case." Sometimes you've got to recognize that people's perception of risk diverges from the pure science, GMOs, and sometimes you're communicating, "There could be a risk. It's small but we don't necessarily want you to do anything different about it."
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Result:

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Option 2: "The speaker emphasizes the importance of transparent communication about potential risks and uncertainty, treating the public as adults who can understand and manage risk, even when the scientific evidence is inconclusive."

Explanation: This option accurately captures the main idea of the text. The speaker discusses the need for clear communication regarding the uncertainty of mad cow disease's impact on sheep and emphasizes treating the public as capable of understanding risk. This aligns with the speaker's approach of acknowledging the unknown while assuring the public that research is ongoing.

Option 1: "The speaker discusses the government's attempts to suppress information about the potential spread of mad cow disease to sheep, and the importance of understanding scientific evidence when assessing risk."

Explanation: This option misrepresents the text by suggesting that the government was actively suppressing information. The speaker actually emphasizes the need for transparent communication about risks rather than suppression. Additionally, while the importance of understanding scientific evidence is mentioned, it is not the main focus of the text.

Option 3: "The speaker highlights the consequences of mad cow disease in cattle and sheep, urging the public to stop eating lamb due to the potential dangers it poses to human health."

Explanation: This option incorrectly states that the speaker urges the public to stop eating lamb. In fact, the speaker mentions that they are not advising people to stop eating lamb, which contradicts this option. The focus is on communicating uncertainty rather than urging specific actions.

Option 4: "The speaker focuses on the challenges of communicating about GMOs and the need to balance scientific evidence with people's perceptions of risk in order to make informed decisions."

Explanation: While the speaker does touch on the concept of risk perception, this option inaccurately suggests that the main focus is on GMOs. The text primarily discusses mad cow disease and the communication of its risks, not GMOs. Therefore, this option does not accurately summarize the text.

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